Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on November 15th, 2006
Tagged as: Uncategorized
It’s been a while, and I apologize to myself for lacking the discipline (spelt: energy) to keep the thoughts flowing.
There’s quite a lot in the air at the moment.
More than anything else, I’ve discovered there’s a back-end to copywriting. And like an iceberg, there’s more to what you don’t see than what you do.
I’m speaking about search engine optimization, and it’s fascinating. I’m learning terms like latent semantic indexing, prominence, proximity and stop words.
I had no idea…
I’m learning a language that goes beyond selling content, it changes the position of sites that speak it in a way that actively brings them closer to the people looking for them.
I apologize if this sounds lame, but like I said I had no idea. The world was flat before this, now it can bent anyway I want it.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on November 8th, 2006
Tagged as: Uncategorized
I have been slowly drawn into this argument to the point where I can no longer sit and watch.
It’s an age thing. When you’re young you live and learn but now it feels live I’m learning and hardly living. At least my wife knows where I am, even if we go to bed a vastly different hours.
Change is definitely not for the weak-hearted. The way it opens your mind while at the same time numbing your senses is really quite unique. I can see why companies are reluctant.
Today I used my abolutely brilliant website builder XSitePro to build my first ever website. Once I had finished the tutorial site, I realized I was missing graphics, layout, backgrounds, even copy! I downloaded this handy header tool, and the journey got a little bit shorter.
This is all very exciting, but with age comes the little alarm bell that sounds when you just ain’t gonna make it. I now know how Lance Armstrong felt when he decided to break three hours in the NY Marathon.
So at what point does age transform you into a manager? Ever since I decided to open three blogs in two languages on the same day. When does my brain reach the level of maturity to know when I’m exaggerating? I’ll let you know if and when it does.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on November 6th, 2006
Tagged as: Uncategorized
I’ve just had a thought.
It came to me while reading the December 2006 CAR magazine.
In the bulletin section there was a pretty alarming article about the envoronmental impact that undoes just about everything I’ve ever understood about eco-friendly automobiles.
I can’t find the report on the magazine’s website but I did find it here.
Normally, we’re led to believe that a car is green by looking at it’s fuel consumption and emissions. However, Oregon-based CNW Marketing Research took a step back and looked at it globally. What they discovered was in my mind astonishing in its obviousness.
If you look beyond fuel consumption and take into consideration a car’s “dust to dust” environmental impact, factoring in fuel consumption, factory manufacturing costs, parts manufacturing costs, plus the energy used in R&D, the energy used by the workers communiting to the factories, the car’s recylability and it’s durability, the traditional references are turned on their heads.
By way of illustration, the greenest car available in the UK is, according the Greenpeace, the automotive incarnation of Beelzebub, the Jeep Wrangler 4×4.
The previous envoronmental champion, the hybrid Toyota Prius, has a “dust to dust” energy cost five times higher than the second-place Toyota Yaris.
Art Spinella, president of CNW, sums it up quite nicely. “If a consumer is concerned about fuel economy, it is perfectly logical to consider buying high fuel economy vehicles such as hybrids, but if the concern is the broader issues such as environmental impact of energy usage, some vehicles with good economy actually cost society more than conventional or even larger models over their lifetime. Basing purchasing decisions solely on fuel economy does not get to the heart of the energy usage issue”.
How painfully obvious is all this?
How much does discovering a truth that exposes our short-sightedness for what it is burn our pride and uproot our intelligence?
Couldn’t see the woods for the trees?
Winning the battle but losing the war?
Taking an even bigger step backwards, it made me wonder if this oversight also applies to marketing.
For example, how often consumers fed solutions that resolve the problem but neglect the cause? How many products and ideas (and remedies for that matter) have been introduced that do nothing more than smear away the stains left by the previous mistake?
In my own little world of IT solutions, I can’t help thinking if there’s a bigger picture we’re missing.
The fact that Greenpeace is putting pressure on electronics manufacturers into making their products more environmentally friendly is a case in point.
How much of the efficiency comes from the machine itself?
- If manufacturers busy making computers work faster forget that humans have to live with the consequences.
Does the pursuit of increased efficiency/performance in one area damage another?
- I’m thinking of the Sony battery disaster but I’m sure there are other more distant relationships.
How much human-involvement is missing from the equation?
- Is technology improving yet becoming so complicated in the process that we as humans are being blinded by it? If SatNavs and GPS phones take away our ability to “see” where we’re going, and SMS text-messaging is undoing one of civilised man’s key qualities (literacy), just how much is technology driving us towards a catatonic state of high-tech dependency?
Breaking down the barriers between people and technology might not be a bad thing, as long as we don’t put up others along the way.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on November 4th, 2006
Tagged as: Me
You’ve seen the little widget on the right no?
Very clever thing created by Hugh Macleod over on his Gaping Void site. Sort of like daily guidance for geeks 
I’m sort of in need of guidance myself right now. I’m just about ready to call a meeting and bring in the big boys to discuss their corporate blog.
It’s been a long journey helped no end by Richard@Dell (you’ve gotta love that surname!). I have already thanked him in an earlier post but as one of the (public) driving forces behind our single biggest “competitor”, his generosity and openness puts him (and Dell for that matter) at the very top of the social tree. Maximum respect.
I’ve got 2 brochures and a whitepaper to deliver by Monday (fat chance), and then it’s full speed ahead with the blog preparations. Now or never..
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 31st, 2006
Tagged as: Social Media
There’s something that’s been bothering me for a while and I’ve only just understood what it is.
Has anyone noticed that when IT companies start blogging, they start promoting themselves on various levels? Product, Business, Channel, Service and even Market Position…
This is all very well and I don’t want to criticise proven practices, but I think IT companies should make a very clear division between the interests of its customers and those of its shareholders when talking to the public at large.
When you write body copy for brochures, flyers or any other “collateral” used to promote a company’s product, your audience is the buying public. Whether they buy it from the manufacturer/vendor directly or from their favourite tech store is largely irrelevant. If the product fits, they’ll buy it.
When you write a corporate brochure, press release or conference presentation your audience is entirely different, and the tone of language used changes accordingly.
Lately I’ve been monitoring IT blogs from as many component manufacturers and big brand vendors as possible and I’ve noticed that “the message” is often blurred by other issues such as market share or the direct/indirect model argument.
This is great if you’re an investor, but gives a confused message to the buying public. At what point is the difference between direct and indirect business models relevant to them?
There are moments when best practice, channel strategy and product development are necessarily aggregated but surely this shouldn’t become a “standard”, unless of course you are prepared to get on the blogosphere at a corporate level, but leave the customer behind.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 31st, 2006
Tagged as: Uncategorized
I’ve learnt a lesson today: Respect the margin of error.
When UPS says they will deliver anytime between 9 am and 12pm, do not, under any circumstances, leave your house till 12.30pm at least.
Margin of error. We’re all guilty of it. UPS is no different. They found that 10 minute window in which I wasn’t around and turned up. All I have to show for my lack of respect is a slip of paper and a 48 hour wait (tomorrow’s a bank holiday).
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